Appliance for filling granular bulk material into sacks



April 23-, 1957 W A. BENZ 89,

1 APPLIANCE FOR FILLI NG GRANULAR BULK MATERIAL INTO SACKS Filed July 12, 1954 '2 Sheets-Sheet 1 I I I A III I I I I //l IHVEIYTO April 1957 A. BENZ 2,789,591

APPLIANCE FOR FILLING GRANULAR BULK MATERIAL m'ro SACKS Filed July 12, 1954 2 Shee ts-Sheet 2 United States Patent APPLIANCE F91? FILLING GRANULAR BULK MATERIAL INTO SACKS August Benz, Schlieren, Switzerland Application July 12, 1954, Serial No. 442,515 Claims priority, application Switzerland July 13, 1953 12 Claims. (Cl. 141-233) The present invention relates to an appliance for filling granular bulk material into sacks by means of a wheeled shovel, and is distinguished by a rocker intended for the shovel to run onto and making an obtuse angle with the ground when in the position for the shovel to run on, the horizontal swiveling axis of the rocker being arranged at least approximately at a height above the ground corresponding to the height of the sack to be filled, holding means for the sacks to be filled being provided within the range of the rocker, whereby the rocker includes an arresting device to make sure that the wheel shovel after running onto the rocker does not run down during swiveling of the shovel and rocker from their initial position into filling position.

The accompanying drawing shows diagrammatically a preferred form of embodiment incorporating the invention.

Fig. 1 shows the sack-filling appliance with the wheeled shovel run onto the rocker;

Fig. 2 shows the sack-filling appliance in the position during discharge of the bulk material into the sack;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary view, on a larger scale, of the sack-filling appliance upon completion of the filling operation and with the rocker lowered;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary view similar to Fig. 3 with certain parts in a different position;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary view similar to the lower half of Fig. 3 with certain parts in a different position.

The illustrated sack-filling appliance is adopted in conjunction with a wheeled shovel 1 having a capacity of about 50 to 80 kg, the bottom of the shovel being strengthened by longitudinal and transverse ribs 2. The longitudinal ribs 2 carry an axle 4 fitted with two wheels 3. Fixed to the back wall of the shovel, strengthened by stays 6, is the stem '7 which serves as guide pole and is provided with an upper and a lower handle 3 and 8 respectively. The two side walls of the shovel decrease in height and are only a few centimeters high near the front end of the shovel.

This wheeled shovel makes it possible with a single scooping movement to load thereon a quantity of granular and even powdery material corresponding to the capacity of a normal sack. With the help of the sackfilling appliance described hereinafter, this load can be conveniently discharged into a sack connected to it.

The filling appliance includes a foot 9 with a loading ramp 10. Mounted on the foot 9, a distance away from said ramp is an upright bearing support 11 at the top of which a titling axle 12 is held in two bearings. This tilting axle serves as pivot axle for a rocker 13, one arm thereof-in the lowered position in which it. includes an obtuse angle with the ground-being intended for taking the wheeled shovel 1, while its other arm 13b is formed by a longitudinally adjustable rod which carries a counterweight 14. The counterweight 14 serves for relieving, at least in part, the rocker 13 loaded with the full wheeled shovel. Located at top on the bearing support 11 is a sack-holding device 15 and betweensame ice and the tilting axle 12 there is a sieve 16 formed by a bar grid and followed by a duct branch 17 for leading coaldust way. The sack-holding device comprises two hooks arranged at a distance apart, on which the sack 18 can be hung and with the help of which the operator attending to the removal of the filled sacks can easily hold the sack in the opened position. A second operator who attends to the wheeled shovel will each time care for discharging the bulk material into the sack. The coaldust that passes through the sieve 16 when the sack is being filled, falls through the branch 17 into a container 19 placed ready for it.

Fitted to the underside of the bottom of the shovel is an abutment 20, on which the shovel 1while moving over the ramp 10 onto the rocker-is held in position ready for tilting by means of a catch-pawl 21 pivoted on the rocker. In this position the side walls of the shovel make connection with two guide walls 22 adapted to serve as hopper and which, along a limited distance, are swivably supported in the neighborhood of the tilting axle 12 on pins 23 fixed to the rocker. The guide plates 22 overlap the bottom of the shovel when run onto the rocker and ensure certain engagement of shovel and rocker while being tilted.

A stop-pawl 24 serves for securing the rocker in the position intended for running the shovel onto the rocker. The stop-pawl 24 is pivoted on a bolt 25 at the end of the rocker arm taking the shovel, and stands under the action of a draw-spring 26 and a leaf-spring 27 that counteracts the draw-spring. Said pawl 24 grips behind a bar 28 arranged on the free extremities of two arms 29 attached to the loading ramp 1t and is held in engagement with the bars 28 by the draw-spring 26. The force with which the leaf-spring 2'7 acts on the stop-pawl 24 is considerably weaker than the force of the draw-spring 26. After the action of the draw-spring 26 has been nullified by a special releasing device described hereinafter, the leaf-spring 27 tends to bring the pawl 24 back. Said releasing device serves at the same time to release the catch-pawl 21 so that the emptied wheeled shovel will be free to run off again. The catch-pawl 21 is pivoted on a bolt Ball in the rocker and limited in its pivotal movement by a stay 31 with stop 32 on it. A leaf-spring 35 endeavours to keep the catch-pawl 21 in its engaged position (Fig. 4), the leaf-spring engaging at one end the catch-pawl 21 through a strap 33 and rests with its free end against a carrier 34 arranged on the rocker. With the same strap serving to fix the leaf-spring 35, a lead-spring arm 36 and a spring stirrup 37 are attached to the catchpawl 21. Arranged on the free end of the stirrup 37 is a clamping pawl 38 which cooperates with a tooth 39. This latter is fitted on a pawl guide-tongue 40 fixed on the bearing support 11. The arm 33a of the clamping pawl 38, directed towards the shovel, is situated within the range of movement of the front part of the bottom of the shovel and is influenced by the bottom of the shovel when the latter runs onto the rocker. Fixed on the free extremity of the spring stirrup 37 is a steel cord 41 connected to the draw-spring 26 and guided over a pulley 42 supported on the carrier 34. By pressure on the clamping pawl 38, 3811 when the shovel is running otl the rocker, the pawl 38 is released, whereby, as shown in Fig. 4, on the one hand the draw-spring 26 will be put out of action by the slackening of the steel cord, and on the other hand because of the relaxing of the leaf-spring arm 36, the catch-pawl will be brought into operating position shown in Fig. 4, being then under the action of leaf-spring 35.

The action of the aforedescribed sack-filling appliance and its manpulation when transferring material, for instance at freight yards, are as follows:

The filling appliance, especially suitable for filling sacks withgranular material such as coke, egg coal, anthracite, etc. is placed on'thegoods truck at the unloading side in such a way that the filled sacks can be transferred to the lorry drawn close up to the goods truck. With the appliance in the initial position ready for work (Fig. 3), the

filled wheel shovel can be run over the loading ramp ltd onto the rocker. When the wheels 4-of the shovel run onto the supporting stay 13a of the rocker, the latter is fully loaded and swings out of the position as in Fig. 3, in which it will be held bythe stop-pawl 24, into the position shown in Fig. 5, in which the lower end of the rocker 13 rests on the loading ramp 10. This change in position then causes the stop-pawl 24 to be released as explained hereinafter.

Since the guide walls 22 of the shovel are engaged below by the bottom of the shovel, a good connection will be made between shovel and rocker, and the shovel may be emptied into the sack 18 by pushing the shovel handle 8 up and by swinging the rocker round the tilting axle 12. When coal slides overthe sieve 1'6, the greater part of the coal-dust will fall through the sieve into the container 19. The raising of the shovel during the tilting movement requires only a slight exertion of force, since the weight of the coal and the shovelis to a great extent balanced by the counterweights 14. After the shovel has been emptied, it is tipped back into the initial position shown in Fig. 1 by pulling the lower handle 8' and overcoming the counterweight 14, during which time the operator attending to the transferring of the filled sacks detaches these each time from the hooks 15 of the sack-filling device, ties up the mouth of the sack and carries it onto the lorry, When the rocker and shovel tilt down, the end of the clamping pawl 38 slides on the guiding tongue 40 and Will finally strike against the tooth 39, thus bringing the pawl 38 into clamping position (Fig. 3, at top). In this way, on the one hand by pulling the steel cord 41 the draw-spring 26 gets tensioned and the stop-pawl 24 is thus brought into the position ready for locking, while on the other hand by tensioning the leaf-spring 36, which overcomes the force of the leaf-spring 35, the catch-pawl 21 will be swung into the releasing position (Fig. 3).

When the lower end of the rocker 13 comes against the loading ramp 10, the stop-pawl 24 engages the bar 28, thus securing the rocker in its initial position .(Fig. 3). This makes it possible for the shovel to run off the loading ramp as soon as the rocker has tipped back into the sunk position. When the shovel is running off the rocker, the front part of the shovel will, press on the clamping pawl arm 38a, so that the clamping pawl 38 is thrown up from the tooth 39 and springs into the position as in Fig. 4. Incidentally also draw-spring 26 becomes slackened, so that the stop-pawl 24 will then only be under action of the leaf-spring 27 which endeavours to press it into the releasing position (Fig. A releasing of the stopapawl 24 can however not take place at once, as the rocker presses under the effect of the counterweights 14 in the direction of the arrow A (Fig. 3, below), so that the stop-pawl 24 will be drawn with its hook against the bar 28 and be firmly retained in the stop position against the action of the leaf-spring 27. When the clamping pawl 38 is free, the leaf-spring 36 has no action on the catch-pawl 21, so that this remains only under the action of the leaf-spring 35 and is swung into the position ready for Work, as shown in Fig. 4.

While the operator attending the shovel refills it and runs the loaded shovel onto the ramp and the rocker, the man transferring the filled sacks to the lorry has time to attach an empty sack to the sack-filling device and to hold it open while it is being filled. When the wheels 4 of the shovel 1 run onto the supporting stay 13a of the rocker 13, the latter as fully loaded again experiences a slight swing out of the position shown in Pig. 3 (below) into the position as in Fig- 5, the. stop-pawl 24 coming. thereby out of engagement. with the .bar 28 and will he swung into the position as in Fig. 5 under the influence 4 of the leaf-spring 27. In this way the rocker will be set free for the tilting movement of the shovel which now follows.

When filling sacks with is covered over.

Instead of being under the action of a balance-weight, the rocker could be under the influence of a torsion spring. Alternatively, a heavily geared driving with crank could be provided for moving, the rocker.

What I claim is:

1. In a sack filling device, in combination, a support including pivot means having a horizontal axis; a rocker means having a free loading end and being mounted on said support for pivotal movement about said pivot means between a lowered position and a raised position; a wheeled bucket having a closed rear end and having an open discharge front end, said wheeled bucket being forwardly movable over said freeloading end of said rocker means onto said rocker means and into a discharge position in which said discharge front end is located in the region of said pivot means so that the contents ofsaid bucket are discharged in said raised position of said rocker means, said bucket tending to roll off said rocker means in said lowered position of the same; holding means for placing a sack in the region of said pivot means for receiving the discharged contents of said bucket; catch means on said rocker means engaging said bucket in said discharging position for holding the same during pivotal movement of said rocker means; and releasing means on said rocker means connected to said catch means for releasing the same after said rocker means has returned from said raised position to said lowered position.

2. In a sack filling device, in combination, a support including pivot means having a horizontal axis; a rocker means having a free loading end and being mounted on said support for pivotal movement about said pivot means between a lowered position and a raised position; a wheeled bucket having a closed rear end and having an open discharge front end, said wheeled bucket being forwardly movable over said free loading end of said rocker means onto said rocker means and into a discharge position in which said discharge front end is located in the region of said pivot means so that the contents of said bucket are discharged in said raised position of said rocker means, said bucket tending to roll oft said rocker means in said lowered position of the same; holding means for placing a sack in the region of said pivot means for receiving the discharged contents of' said bucket; stop means on said rocker means, adjacent saidpivot means engaging said front end of said bucket so as to hold said bucket in said raised position of said rocker means and to block forward movement of said bucket; catch means on said rocker means engaging said bucket in said discharging position for holding the same and for blocking rearward movement of the same during pivotal movement of said rocker means; and releasing means on said rocker means connected to said catch means for releasing the same after said rocker means has returned from said raised position to said lowered position.

3. In a sack filling device, in combination, a support including pivot means having a horizontal axis; a rocker means having a free loading end and being mounted on said support for pivotal movement about said pivot means between a lowered position ing ramp adjacent said free loading end of said: rocker means when the same is in said lowered position; a wheeled bucket having a closed rear end and having an open discharge front end, said wheeled bucket being forwardly movable over said ramp and said free loading end powdery material, the sieve 16 of said rocker means onto said rocker means and into. in which said discharge front end isv a discharge position located in the region of said pivot means so that the contents of said, bucket are discharged in said vraised position, of staid rocker means, said bucket tending, to roll, off} saidrocker meansinsaidloweredposition, of the same;

and araised position; a load holding means for placing a sack in the region of said pivot means for receiving the discharged contents of said bucket; catch means on said rocker means engaging said bucket in said discharging position for holding the same during pivotal movement of said rocker means; and releasing means on said rocker means connected to said catch means for releasing the same after said rocker means has returned from said raised position to said lowered position.

4. A sack filling device as set forth in claim 3 wherein said loading ramp is fixedly connected to said support.

5. In a sack filling device, in combination, a support including pivot means having a horizontal axis; a rocker means having a free loading end and being mounted on said support for pivotal movement about said pivot means between a lowered position and a raised position; a wheeled bucket having a closed rear end and having an open discharge front end, said wheeled bucket being forwardly movable over said free loading end of said rocker means onto said rocker means and into a discharge position in which said discharge front end is located in the region of said pivot means so that the contents of said bucket are discharged in said raised position of said rocker means, said bucket tending to roll oif said rocker means in said lowered position of the same; holding means for placing a sack in the region of said pivot means for re ceiving the discharged contents of said bucket; stop means on said rocker means adjacent said pivot means engaging said front end of said bucket so as to hold said bucket in said raised position of said rocker means and to block forward movement of said bucket; spring-loaded catch means on said rocker means engaging said bucket in said discharging position for holding the same and for blocking rearward movement of the same during pivotal movement of said rocker means; and releasing means on said rocker means connected to said catch means for releasing the same, said releasing means being movable between an inoperative position and a releasing position releasing said catch means, said releasing means engaging said support during movement of said rocker means from said raised position to said lowered position and being moved during such engagement from said inoperative position to said releasing position so that said catch means is released and said carriage means is free to move beyond said free loading end after said rocker means has returned from said raised position to said lowered position.

6. In a sack filling device, in combination, a support including pivot means having a horizontal axis; a rocker means having a free loading end and being mounted on said support for pivotal movement about said pivot means between a lowered position and a raised position; a loading ramp adjacent said free loading end of said rocker means when the same is in said lowered position; counterbalance means urging said rocker means to turn from said lowered position to said raised position; an arresting device on said loading ramp engaging and arresting said rocker means in said lowered position against the action of said counterbalance means; a wheeled bucket having a closed rear end and having an open discharge front end, said wheeled bucket being forwardly movable over said ramp and said free loading end of said rocker means onto said rocker means and into a discharge position in which said discharge front end is located in the region of said pivot means so that the contents of said bucket are discharged in said raised position of said rocker means, said bucket tending to roll ofi said rocker means in said lowered position of the same, said bucket releasing said arresting device during forward movement over said free loading end to said discharging position, and setting up said arresting device during rearward movement of said rocker means after discharge; holding means for placing a sack in the region of said pivot means for receiving the discharged contents of said bucket; stop means on said rocker means adjacent said pivot means engaging said front end of said bucket so as to hold said bucket in said raised position of said rocker means and to block forward movement of said bucket; catch means on said rocker means engaging said bucket in said discharging position for holding the same and for blocking rearward movement of the same during pivotal movement of said rocker means; and releasing means on said rocker means connected to said catch means for releasing the same after said rocker means has returned from said raised position to said lowered position.

7. A sack filling device as claimed in claim 6 wherein said stop means is a hopper means having one end for.

engaging said open discharge front end of said bucket and another discharge end projecting beyond said pivot means and adapted to guide the contents of said bucket into a sack held by said holding means.

8. A sack filling device as set forth in claim 6 wherein said arresting device includes a stop pawl pivoted on said ramp means and movable between a releasing position and an arresting position engaging said rocker means in said lowered position; a first spring engaging said stop pawl and tending to release the same; a second stronger spring engaging stop pawl and tending to move the same to said arresting position; and linkage means connecting said stop pawl with said releasing means so that said stop pawl is set to said arresting position when said releasing means engages said support.

9. A sack filling device as set forth in claim 8 wherein said releasing means include a movable operating member projecting into the path of movement of said bucket means when said releasing means engage said support, said operating member being engaged by said bucket when the same moves toward said free loading end of said rocker means after said catch means is released and being moved by said bucket into a position in which said releasing means is moved to said inoperative position and said catch means is set up.

10. In a sack filling device, in combination, a support including pivot means having a horizontal axis; holding means for holding a sack in the region of said pivot means; a rocker means having a free loading end and being mounted on said support for pivotal movement about said pivot means between a raised position and a lowered position; a loading ramp adjacent said free loading end of said rocker means when the same is in said lowered position and adapted to guide a bucket onto said rocker means; counterbalance means urging said rocker means into said raised position; an arresting device on said ramp movable between areleasing position and an arresting position arresting said rocker means in said lowered position, said arresting device being adapted to be released by the bucket when the same moves onto said rocker means; and a setting device connected to said arresting device for moving the same to said arresting position, said setting device including an operating member adapted to be actuated by said bucket when the same moves toward said free loading end of said rocker means.

ll. A sack filling device as set forth in claim 10 wherein said rocker means is movable beyond said lowered position to a releasing position, and is adapted to be moved by the weight of said bucket from said lowered position to said releasing position whereby said arresting device is released.

12. In a sack filling device, in combination, a support including pivot means having a horizontal axis; holding means for holding a sack in the region of said pivot means; a rocker means having a free loading end and being mounted on said support for pivotal movement about said pivot means between a raised position and a lowered position, and beyond said lowered position into a releasing position; a loading ramp adjacent said free loading end of said rocker means when the same is in said lowered position and adapted to guide a bucket onto said rocker means; counterbalance means urging said rocker means into said raised position; an arresting deber mounted on said rocker means and engaging during 10 movement of the same said support for moving said setting device to said operative position, said setting device including an operating member adapted to be engaged by said. bucket when, the same moves toward said freeloading. end. of said. rocker means, said setting device being moved to saiiinoperative position when. said operating member is i actuated by saidbucket.

References Cited'invthe file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 678,387 Flakker June 16, 1901 993,696 Manson May 30, 1911 l,935,836 Du Vander Nov. 21, 1933 2,081,122 Stetson May 18, 1937 2,508,699. Welsh May 23, 1950- 

